by Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.
Post Debate Wrap Up
The Author of the Rope-A-Dope
There is more than one way to “Rope-A-Dope.” Sometimes you do it by giving him enough rope to hang himself. Tonight We saw Mitt Romney, tie his own noose, place it over his own head, tighten it and take a flying leap into oblivion. Mitt, we hardly knew ya… No really! How can you know a man, who can reverse himself 3 times in the course of one sentence? In tonight’s debate, it finally caught up to Mr. Romney and just between you, me and the doorpost? I don’t think Mitt was very happy. It was a long night on Long Island at Hofstra University for Mitt Romney.
First Debate Revisited
One of the conversations I had repeatedly following the first debate was to reassure concerned Democrats regarding President Obama’s apparent lack luster performance. First I have always maintained that President Obama has been playing Chess while the Republicans were playing Checkers.
If you want to catch an Eel, you first have to put sand on your hands. Mitt Romney has been one slippery Eel. The genius of Mitt Romney’s campaign has been their ability to get so far without ever having to commit to anything! President Obama had to first make get Mitt to take an actual position. Heretofore, Romney has in essence been blowing smoke on all the issues. In a conversation following the previous debate, I asked the person with whom I was talking, “you just listened to Mitt Romney for an hour and a half, can you tell me even one position Mitt has?” After a moment of thought, he admitted that he could not. That has been the problem.
Getting a straight answer on Mitt’s policies is like trying to enter a rapidly spinning revolving door.
Getting to Mitt is like trying to enter a rapidly spinning revolving door. Attack his tax plan, the plan he’s been running on for the past year and a half, Mitt says, “that’s not my plan!” He smugly points out, “he has only suggested what he might do.” The real plan will be put together with a congress that is as yet unelected. Look at it this way, If you went to see your doctor about a problem and the doctor told you that you needed an operation, wouldn’t you want to know the details? If the doctor told you he was going to cut you open and figure things out once he took a look, I suspect you’d get up and go looking for a second and third opinions.
Mitt has actually gotten a lot of mileage by not taking an actual position on any of the issues. It makes it extremely easy for him to tailor his message dependent upon which group he’s talking to. Before you can knock him down, you’ve got to get the real Mitt to actually stand up!
Style Points
Debate Moderator Candy Crowley
It would be fair to say that the debate moderators have grown weary of Mitt Romney’s tactic of taking control of the debates. He got away with it during the Republican Primaries and had a great measure of success in his first outing against the lamentable Jim Lehrer. He comes off as a whiner. He complains about the order, who’s turn it is to speak… except when he wants to rebut a point that went against him. Then of course, “he must be allowed to respond.” Actually? No Mitt, you don’t get to explain it all away when you get caught in a lie. In my opinion, debate moderator Candy Crowley did an excellent job of containing Mitt’s antics.
Mitt, lying is not patriotic
President Obama had to walk the proverbial tight rope. Let us call a spade a spade. We live in a racist country. White people fear “the angry Black man.” His delivery had to be pitch perfect. He had to push back and cut Mitt’s throat with a smile firmly fixed on his face. He did just that. The difference between this debate and the last debate? President Obama called Mitt on each and every lie. Mitt simply didn’t know what to do. He began speaking condescendingly to Candy Crowley, he even went so far as to heckle the President in the middle of one of his answers. The American people saw Mitt unravel right before their eyes.
On The Substance
There were many topics covered I’ll give you a few of the highlights. Mitt Romney attempted to make points on oil production. His complaint was that the President’s administration has taken away oil drilling rights on public lands. Personally? I’m not real enthusiastic about oil derricks popping up in our National Parks, Nevertheless, this was yet another lie Mitt got caught in. In fact, it came back to bite him in the ass.
Coming to a National Park Near You?
Yes, the Obama administration has removed drilling rights. These rights were bought up and being sat on for years and not being used. Oil companies were in essence just squatting on our public lands. What the Obama administration did was take those drilling rights and re-let them out to companies who were willing to actually use them now. That of course is fundamentally different than the impression Mitt Romney was trying to portray.
Mitt Romney attempted to get some mileage by comparing the cost of gas today to the price it was when President Obama first took office. There were a couple of lies contained within this poison pill. First, if you buy into the supply and demand model of pricing, you would have to agree that the greater the supply, the less the demand, the lower the price. As it turns out, our oil production is at an all time high. Our demand is actually down. Yet, the price at the pump is high. The dirty little secret is, oil is considered a global commodity. The oil we produce here in the United States, goes directly onto the global market where it is mixed into the global supply. Since we only have 20% of the known global oil reserves, we simply cannot pump enough oil to have much of an effect on oil and gas prices.
President Obama turned the tables on Romney by pointing out that when gas prices were at $1.86 per gallon, our economy was in full meltdown. He then pointed out, that we could in fact get back to those prices simply by following Mitt Romney’s policies back to an economic collapse. The audience nearly cheered!
One of the other topics which I thought extremely important concerned “Women’s Issues.” President Obama pointed to his record on “Women’s Issue.” The first bill he signed after being elected to office was the “Lilly Ledbetter Act.” He pointed out how his”Affordable Care Act” covers women’s health care issues. He addressed the Republican plan to de-fund Planned Parenthood.
Really Mitt? You asked for a binder full of women?
Mitt Romney’s response was to tell some story from his days as Governor of Massachusetts. According to Mitt, he noticed the dearth of women represented in his cabinet and asked them to bring him a binder full of qualified prospective females to add to his cabinet. This rang hollow to me. Mitt is asking us to believe that he made it all the way to the Governor’s office before it occurred to him he ought to have female representation on his cabinet? A person who deals from whom they really are, has no need to worry about optics. Be who you are and the optics will take care of themselves.
The Libyan Incident
This issue may have been the end of Mitt Romney’s hopes at winning this election. Before the facts were in Mitt leapt out front to criticize the President’s administration. Before the bodies had been recovered. Mitt Romney was using this tragedy for political gain. On this night, he ran head long into a “hay maker” from the President.
The President’s Personal Punching Bag
Mitt Romney thought he was about to deliver a political kill shot. His criticism has been that the Administration was – for reasons unknown – trying to cover-up an act of terror against an American embassy which cost the life of an Ambassador and 3 military service personnel. Unfortunately for Mitt, he got “fact checked” right in the middle of the debate by not only the President but by the debate moderator. As it turns out there is video tape of the President of the United States, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton beside him, in the “Rose Garden” calling what happened… “An Act of Terror.” Caught in a lie and embarrassed on national television with 65 million people watching. Poor Mitt. The President turned Mitt into his personal punching bag.
Things were already going down hill, but it was like the brake lines were suddenly cut. Mitt never recovered from this blunder. It was a telling moment. We got to see not only his character but the risk of having someone in charge who does not take the time to research an issue and know what he’s talking about before taking a position.
Immigration
This was yet another issue that hit Mitt right between the eyes. During the Republican Primaries, vowing not to sign the “Dream Act” may have garnered some points, but this is the General Election. Mitt tried to lie away his “Self-Deportation” comments, but the President held his feet to the fire. Mitt tried to distance himself from his statement that “Arizona’s Papers Please Law” should become the model for the nation. Mitt tried to explain that he only supported the “E-Verify” portion for employers. President Obama pointed out that Mitt’s advisor on immigration issues is the same person who wrote the “entire” Arizona bill. Mitt had nothing to say. Latinos are neither stupid nor naive. They do vote.
Conclusion
In the last debate, I gave President Obama the win on substance and Mitt Romney the win on style. The problem is, you really can’t lie your way to a win. That’s not debating. This debate was like night and day. President Obama called Mitt on each and every lie and pushed back hard. He tied Mitt to his positions and then used him like a punching bag. You could tell Mitt was getting frustrated because he kept appealing to the Moderator. I really expected him to say at any minute, “Candy save me!!!” No help was forthcoming.
You could tell who won at the end of the debate, by observing the dynamics of the crowd, the pundits in the spin room and how long they hung around. Mitt was up and out as soon as possible. President Obama stayed around to take pictures with fans, sign autographs and greet the public. Mitt gathered what was left of his dignity and limped off the field of combat.